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A federal jury rendered its verdict on Thursday, declaring that the renowned pop singer Ed Sheeran did not infringe upon Marvin Gaye's timeless masterpiece "Let's Get It On" with his chart-topping 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud."

 

Spanning over duration of two weeks, the high-profile trial took place in a downtown Manhattan courtroom. Ed Sheeran, recognized as one of the most successful and influential musicians took to the witness stand, wielding a guitar as he passionately defended his artistic integrity.

 

He asserted that "Thinking Out Loud" had been conceived entirely independent of any influence from Marvin Gaye's iconic composition. Sheeran further explained that the genesis of the song occurred during an intimate session with his close friend and longstanding collaborator, Amy Wadge. Drawing inspiration from the profound and enduring love stories they had witnessed among their respective family members throughout the years, they embarked on the creative process that birthed "Thinking Out Loud."

 

Throughout the trial, Sheeran's heartfelt testimony shed light on the origins of his critically acclaimed hit, underscoring the sincerity and authenticity behind its creation. By passionately sharing the personal experiences and family narratives that inspired the composition, he sought to dispel any doubts surrounding the originality and uniqueness of "Thinking Out Loud."

 

The two tracks share a similar syncopated chord pattern that the family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer, which filed the suit, called the “heart” of “Let’s Get It On.” Mr. Sheeran and his lawyers never denied that the chords in the two songs are similar, but called them commonplace musical building blocks that have turned up in dozens of other songs.

 

The jury, which deliberated for around three hours, found that Mr. Sheeran had created his song independently.

“I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case,” Mr. Sheeran said in a statement that he read outside the courthouse. “At the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”

“We have spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day, all over the world,” Mr. Sheeran continued. “These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before ‘Let’s Get It On’ was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone.”

“I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy,” he added. “I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”

 

After the verdict was read shortly after 1 p.m., Mr. Sheeran rose and hugged members of his legal team. He then walked over to Kathryn Griffin Townsend, Mr. Townsend’s daughter, and embraced her too. The two spoke briefly.

After that, Ms. Townsend said that she respected the jury’s decision and that she had defended her father’s legacy.

 

“I stood up for my father’s intellectual properties,” she said. “I was up against an army.”

 

“Thinking Out Loud”

Ed Sheeran

 

“Let’s Get It On”

Marvin Gaye

 

The case, which was filed in 2017 and had been delayed in part by the coronavirus pandemic, involved questions of originality in pop music that have been tested in a series of recent cases, stoking fears among musicians that the line between inspiration and plagiarism was being muddied.

 

In a 2015 decision that shook the business, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’s song “Blurred Lines” was found to have infringed Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” Five years later, the tide turned: Led Zeppelin won an appeals court victory over its megahit “Stairway to Heaven,” and the judges provided guidance about how copyright applies to works involving “commonplace elements.”

 

In Mr. Sheeran’s case, the plaintiffs argued that even if elements like chords may not be under copyright individually, their “selection and arrangement” on “Let’s Get It On” was original and distinctive enough to warrant protection. Mr. Sheeran’s side responded that the plaintiffs’ case did not pass the high legal bar required for such protection.

 

At times, Mr. Sheeran, who has faced litigation stemming from accusations of copying twice before, grew vexed and combative at the stand.

 

“To have someone come in and say, ‘We don’t believe you, you must have stolen it,’” Mr. Sheeran said, “I find that really insulting.”

 

He insisted that he did not borrow from “Let’s Get It On,” and, playing an acoustic guitar in the witness box, he showed that the chord progression at the core of both tunes, while similar, was not identical.

 

In “Thinking Out Loud,” he testified, the second of the four chords in the progression was major, rejecting a suggestion by Alexander Stewart, a musicologist from the University of Vermont hired by the plaintiffs, that it was similar to a minor one in “Let’s Get It On.”

 

“I know what I’m playing on guitar,” Mr. Sheeran said. “It’s me playing the chords.”

 

Mr. Sheeran also derided Mr. Stewart’s analysis of his vocal melodies — which included an example with some notes changed — as “criminal.”

 

A peculiar aspect of copyright law influenced the jury's ability to assess the two songs. In this particular case, the focus was solely on the underlying compositions of both tracks, encompassing the lyrics, melodies, and chords that can be transcribed onto paper, rather than the recorded versions. The scope of copyright protection for older songs, such as "Let's Get It On," extends exclusively to the sheet music or "deposit copy" that was initially submitted to the United States Copyright Office. In the case of "Let's Get It On," the notations provided in the sheet music were rather rudimentary and skeletal in nature.

 

As a consequence of this copyright law provision, the jury was deprived of the opportunity to listen to Marvin Gaye's original recording of the song, a chart-topping hit that reached No. 1 in 1973. Instead, the defendants presented a computer-generated re-creation of the musical composition based on the deposit copy, employing a robotic voice to simulate the rendition of lyrics such as "If you feel like I feel, baby, then come on, let's get it on." Conversely, the studio recording of Ed Sheeran's song was played multiple times during the trial, allowing the jury to familiarize themselves with its musical arrangement and distinctive qualities.

 

One of the jurors, Sophia Neis, 23, said after the trial that “the song as we’re allowed to hear it” and the “deposit copy” were key pieces of evidence in the jury’s decision making.

 

“We ultimately came to what we thought was the right interpretation of the law,” she said.

 

“It’s obviously cool to have anyone play music in front of you live,” she added, of Mr. Sheeran’s decision to play on the stand. “That was an interesting surprise.”

 

Ms. Townsend, who often wore a tan-colored coat with the word “integrity” emblazoned on the back to court, said she had filed her suit to protect her father’s legacy. On Day 3 of the trial, the proceedings were interrupted when she collapsed and was taken to a hospital.